Housing economists challenged the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s controversial stance against permitting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to allow principal forgiveness in loan modifications, telling U.S. senators this week that mortgage loan writedowns would go a long way to cure the ongoing housing crash and foreclosure crisis. Testifying before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Moody’s Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi told lawmakers that government policy encouraging more mortgage modifications, particularly those involving “substantial principle writedowns” would...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency might be backing away from its controversial suggestion to change mortgage servicer compensation from the current 25 basis points of outstanding principal balance to a flat fee of $10 per mortgage, per month for current loans, with no incremental fees other than existing incentive compensation for the servicing of non-performing mortgages. “Considering changes to the structure of mortgage servicing compensation is an important component of improving the operations of the future mortgage market,” an FHFA spokeswoman said. “We received useful input on ...

Both the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Freddie Mac are refuting a published report suggesting that a mortgage finance vehicle at one time employed by the government-sponsored enterprise was designed to profit the company by preventing homeowners from refinancing. An article published this week by ProPublica and National Public Radio contended that Freddie stood to profit from hedging investments known as inverse floaters that would pay higher returns if interest rates rose and more homeowners remained in mortgages with high interest rates. According to ProPublica, Freddie purchased inverse floaters...

MBS trustees are facing challenges on a number of fronts, according to panelists at the American Securitization Forum’s ASF 2012 conference last week in Las Vegas. Issuers are counting on trustees to provide new information required by the Securities and Exchange Commission, communications with the rating services have become strained, and municipalities are looking to require property maintenance on abandoned homes. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the SEC now requires ABS issuers to disclose the three-year history of the repurchase requests they’ve received – including those withdrawn and those disputed...

Federal and state enforcement agencies late last week launched a broad new initiative to investigate and develop litigation on fraud and misconduct in the non-agency MBS market, issuing civil subpoenas to 11 financial companies. The RMBS Working Group is being co-chaired by five officials: two assistant attorneys general in the Justice Department, the head of enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission and state attorneys general from New York and Colorado. Some 55 DOJ officials are participating, including 15 attorneys and 10 Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, with 30 more attorneys...

While a major regulatory concern of the past few years – the risk-retention rule – has yet to be resolved, the industry is squaring its shoulders for new challenges: the so-called Volcker Rule, a proposal on conflicts of interest in securitization and new bank capital requirements regarding market risk. These projects could do “enormous or irreparable damage to the industry, and entire sectors of the industry could be lopped off,” said Tom Deutsch, executive director of the American Securitization Forum, during the ASF conference last week in Las Vegas. Only about one eighth of the regulatory requirements...

Freddie Mac saw a substantial increase in its single-family MBS program from December to January, but overall agency MBS production declined for the month, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside MBS & ABS. The three agencies generated a total of $114.02 billion in new single-family MBS last month, down 4.0 percent from December. The total was also off 16.4 percent from January 2011 issuance. Agency MBS production had increased steadily over the last five months of 2011 after hitting a low spot of $70.34 billion in July. But issuance at Freddie jumped a whopping 45.8 percent from...

The Obama administration late last week announced that it is extending its Home Affordable Modification Program for another year and sweetening the inducements to get investors to agree to principal reduction loan mods. MBS analysts generally grade the changes as a positive for the non-agency MBS market, but the impact on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securities may depend on whether the government-sponsored enterprises agree to principal reductions. The revised HAMP program will now be available for investor-owned mortgages, and it will feature a revised debt-to-income calculation taking into...

Investors have expressed a keen interest in programs that would facilitate bulk sales of real estate-owned properties. However, few are optimistic that such a program will come to fruition. Based on cost figures provided by Carrington Holding Company, Vincent Fiorillo, a portfolio manager at DoubleLine Capital, suggested investors could easily earn returns of 9.0 percent by renting REO properties. “This is a very attractive alternative investment opportunity,” Fiorillo said at the American Securitization Forum’s ASF 2012 conference last week in Las Vegas ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a new regulation prohibiting lenders from using sexual orientation or gender identity as a basis for determining borrower eligibility for FHA-insured mortgage financing. The regulation specifically extends federal anti-discrimination protections to lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender persons and their families when applying for HUD-assisted or HUD-financed rental housing or an FHA-insured mortgage loan. The regulations will become effective 30 days after their publication in the Federal Register. HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said the policy will ...